Developing a sustainable, student centred VLE: the OUNL case

Abstract

Hermans, H., & Verjans, S. (2009). Developing a sustainable, student centred VLE: the OUNL case. Paper presented at the 23rd ICDE World Conference on Open Learning and Distance Education including the 2009 EADTU Annual Conference (M-2009). June, 7-10, 2009, Maastricht, The Netherlands.The Open University of the Netherlands (OUNL) has adopted the concept of the personal learning and working environment (PLWE) as the future delivery platform of its educational services to students. This concept means that students should be able to shape their own personal virtual (learning) environment, based on individual tool and technology preferences . To support this concept the OUNL faces the challenge of setting up an architecture and investing in the development of a set of educational services that can be integrated not only in the institutional learning environment, but that can also be merged with personal environments. In this presentation we describe the first steps of a distance teaching university in its move towards this PLWE concept. This means reconsidering the role and position of the current, more traditional VLE, and developing new educational services that aim at getting students more committed and involved, inspired by the success of current web2.0 technology.Open University of the Netherlands - Instellingsbreed Programma Onderwijsinnovati